Friday, August 24, 2007

Okay, so as I mentioned the other day, a tech from my cable company actually came out to my place on Wednesday.Actually, he was a tech sub-contracted by the tech contracted by my cable company. The contracted tech was on vacation.Upon arriving, the tech looked at the flashing Cable light on the modem, he said, “This is easy; somebody accidentally disconnected you.” I said that it might have been nice if someone had figured that out nineteen days sooner. Ignoring that, he headed out the door saying, “I’ll be right back.”After a few minutes he came back and said, “Well that ain’t it.”He then proceeded to spend about forty-five minutes going back and forth from my bedroom down to wherever everything is hooked up, moving me from one port to the next, and occasionally pinging someone on his Nextel.After a while he began tinkering with the cable outlets themselves, at one pint, I noted, actually knocking out my TV service. He mentioned that I probably shouldn’t have been working in the first place, as the cable outlet was wired incorrectly.Even after fixing the wiring, though, the Cable light continued its petulant flashing.Eventually he said that, having eliminated all other possibilities, it seemed that the problem was with my modem.Naturally he didn’t have a replacement modem with him, because why would he? I mean, it’s not like he’s a technician for a cable company or any– oh, right.Still, he didn’t have one, and said that the very soonest I could get a new one would be Monday, and even that was iffy.It was at that point that the cable tech became witness to a Jon Explosion, and actually flinched away from the stream of invectives that came bursting forth from me. He could do nothing but nod his head in startled, sympathetic agreement at words like “worst fucking company I’ve ever had the misfortune of dealing with” and “lying sons of bitches” and “absolute fucking morons.”And so he left – having fixed whatever he’d done to the TV and checking to make sure it was working, without me having to tell him to do so, which surprised me – and telling me that the “Asian guy” who is actually contracted by DirecPath to service my complex would be back on Friday and that he would see if there was anything else that could be done from outside my place.Friday – today – marks the three-week point from when, upon returning home from work, I discovered that my Cable light was flashing.And that’s how things stand now: three weeks without Internet service. Three weeks full of lies, misdirection, and a complete and utter lack of commitment even to the notion of customer service.But let’s go back to the beginning, back even before the beginning, so that this particular instance of lousy service can be put into its proper perspective.When I first arrived in Virginia in 2002, I lived in Ashburn, where my cable service was provided by a company called Adelphia, a company that, I soon learned, was bankrupt.Despite the bankruptcy, Adelphia provided service that, while not exactly exemplary, was pretty much on par with cable company standards. Further, while I had a few service interruptions over the course of three years, my Internet connection was fairly dependable, and during that time, without an attendant increase in cost, my downstream connection speeds went from an acceptable 1.5 Mbps to an excellent 3-4 Mbps.In 2006 I bought a condo in Leesburg. It wasn’t until after I’d bought the place that I found out that I would not be getting my cable service from Adelphia, but rather from a company known as MediaWorks.I’d never heard of MediaWorks, but soon learned that they were a small niche cable company that provided cable services to condo developments and apartment complexes. They had their own cable plant located on the grounds of the complex.From the start I was less than thrilled. The TV service was poor, as several channels were duplicates of each other, others were mislabeled, and the volume levels varied widely. For example, in order to be able to hear the programming on Comedy Central, I have to turn the volume up to full blast. This can be a heart-stopping problem if I change the channel without first remembering to lower the volume.Beyond that, they actually receive the programming that is distributed to us via a series of DirecTV and Dish Network satellite dishes, so when it rains the TV goes out. Basically, as MediaWorks customers we received the disadvantages of satellite TV without having access to any of the advantages, such as the on-screen guide, pay-per-view, etc.What made it worse was that many of the channels would not return even after the rain stopped and everything was dry again. On more than one occasion I had to call in to complain about this in order to get the channels back.Then there was the matter of my Internet service. While I was paying roughly the same as I’d been paying to Adelphia, with my 3-4 Mbps service, I was only getting a connection speed of about 1 Mbps. Still, it was better than nothing, and so lacking any other real options, decided to just grit my teeth and bear with it, hoping that either MediaWorks would improve their speeds over time – as Adelphia had – or that Verizon’s FiOS would become available.After nearly a year of spotty TV service and Internet speeds that never got any faster, I was informed that MediaWorks was now DirecPath, the former having been acquired by the latter.I had hoped that this would bode well and that some improvements would be made.That hope died when my Internet speed dropped by more than 75%, from a paltry 1 Mbps to an excruciatingly slow 200 Kbps.I waited it out to see if this was some sort of temporary issue, but after a month it was clear that it was a more permanent issue.So I called in to complain.“I have a problem with my Internet speed,” I said. This was greeted with what was clearly a knee-jerk, automatic response that had been drilled into MediaWorks’/DirecPath’s customer service reps: We only offer one megabit!I sighed and said, “I understand, and at this point I would be happy to get a megabit, but I’m getting speeds that are more than four times lower than that.”I was transferred to tech support, where I was once again informed, “We only offer one megabit!” I sighed again and explained the situation once more.I was then told, in direct contradiction to the knee-jerk defense, “We only offer 256 K!”“That’s impossible,” I said, pointing out that I’d been getting 1 Mbps for over a year.”I was informed that there was no conceivable manner in which I could have been getting such speeds, and clearly I was either delusional or an outright liar.Another person I spoke to said that the service they offered was “256 Kbps down, and 1 Mbs up.”I said, “That’s absurd. No company in its right mind would offer Internet connectivity with that kind of setup.”“Well, I’m just reading what it says.”“Then you’re reading it wrong.”Ultimately, though it was clear that they felt I was a lying troublemaker, or at least wanted me to feel that way about myself, it was agreed that a tech would come out to address the issue of my connection speed (in addition to fixing the three channels that hadn’t come back since the last time it had rained).No such tech ever showed up, though the channels did get fixed.I sent in multiple complaints via their online form, with the assurance that “someone” would be in touch with me within 48 hours.That never happened.Eventually I discovered that I would be moving within the next few months, so I decided that I would just grit my teeth and deal with the lousy service until it was time to leave.Of course, it wasn’t until after August 3 that I discovered just how lousy the service could get.As mentioned, when I got home my Cable light was flashing. I shrugged, figuring it was just an outage that would get resolved overnight or early the next day. At worst, it would be out until Monday.On Monday I decided that I should call in, just to make sure that it wasn’t just me and that work was being done.After jumping through various “tech support” hoops that included doing things that I’d already done and being accused of having made changes to my setup even though I’d explained that nothing had been changed by me since I’d set things up over a year and a half earlier, it was decided that I needed to have a tech sent out. The person I spoke to said she would e-mail dispatch and that dispatch would call me.About a half an hour later I got the call. “Can you be home Wednesday from 8 AM to 6 PM?” A ten hour window? WTF?I didn’t really want to have to stay home all day and I asked if they could narrow it down a little, like letting me know if it’d be in the morning or the afternoon. “No, it could be anytime within that period; we can’t really say when.”I sighed and agreed that I would stay home all day, as the alternative – signing a key release – was even less palatable.So I sat at home all day.By 4 PM no one had arrived, so I called in and asked what the odds were that anyone would show up within the next two hours. I was assured that someone would.At 7 PM I called in to report that the tech was a no-show and my Internet was still out. I was assured that maybe the tech had been delayed, but he would complete every job on his docket before calling it a day, and someone from dispatch would call me to give me his ETA.Never happened.Thursday I got home, hoping that maybe something had been done in the intervening 24 hours. The light was still flashing. I called in and was told that a tech had been at the property, even though he hadn’t actually stopped by my place. It was determined, I was told, that there was not enough available bandwidth to support the number of users in the complex, and that other people were affected, and that there was no ETR, but it was being worked on.I gave it a couple of days and called in to check on the progress. No new information had been entered in the notes since the initial notes about bandwidth. The rep said she would e-mail dispatch and they would call me.No call.Called again, got the same story.All along, by the way, at least after the second call, I was being assured that I would receive credit for the time I was without service. This was reported to me as if it were not something that should go without saying, and as if it should be enough to satisfy me and assuage any concerns I might have. “Oh, you mean I won’t have to pay for a service I’m not receiving? Consider me mollified! But wait, all things considered, I’d rather be paying for a service and actually receiving it.”Finally, on the 18th day of my outage, my patience had reached its limit.“My patience has reached its limit,” I said to the customer service rep.It was at this point that I leaned that I’d been lied to: there was no widespread outage involving a lack of bandwidth, and no one was actually working to fix my problem.And that was when another tech was scheduled to come out, with the instructions that he was not to leave until my problem was fixed.Further, the rep was going to call me back on Thursday to verify that everything was working.You know how things worked out with that tech, and it’s a good thing I didn’t hold my breath waiting for that call.And that brings us up to date.I have to say that, without question, the service I’ve received from MediaWorks/DirecPath is the absolute worst I’ve ever received.The whole point of this entry is an attempt to mobilize a campaign of DirecPath victims customers who have fallen prey to this lousy service.I know that several people have come to this blog and read my earlier posts on this topic (The search string leading them here? DirecPath Sucks.), and one of them has left a comment documenting yet another instance of DirecPath absolutely failing as a provider of quality cable services.I would encourage others to share their experiences in the comments. You can do so anonymously, and while I recognize that the anti-spam word verification can be a bit of a pain, it shouldn’t be an insurmountable obstacle to you sharing your frustration with me and the others (and there must be a lot of others) who have suffered as a result of DirecPath’s “service.”I’m fortunate enough that within a month I will be out from under DirecPath’s dead weight, but I still want to make sure that they’re taken to task for their non-existent commitment to providing quality service to their customers, to discourage any apartment complexes or condo developments who are thinking about signing a deal with DirecPath, and encouraging those that have signed up with them to reconsider. Every little piece of ammunition you can provide is greatly appreciated.On a final note, in order to use their online payment services, I still have to use DirecPath’s legacy MediaWorks site.If I go to the DirecPath site, there is a form into which you can enter your Zip code to find out if you are in a DirecPath residence. When I enter my Zip code it tells me “Sorry, your area is not currently being serviced by DIRECPATH.”You can say that again.

35 comments:

Thank you for validating my opinion of DirecPath. On August 1st I signed up for their cable/sat (resold DirectTV) service when I moved into an Apartment complex they control. So far, after the tech missed several appointments to install, I did finally get service.

Unfortunately, this no-name company is so insignificant and/or crappy that they aren't covered by any normal scheduling information service like Yahoo's TV listings, or TV Guide's. So how am I supposed to know the lineup?

Step one - ask the tech. The install tech gave me a card with my Channel lineup on it. NOPE - alot of the channels listed on their branded card I don't get.

Step two - I call DirectTV (not DirectPath) I found out that the channel lineup card they gave me was VERY old and totally incorrect.

Step three - I call DirecPath. They agree that the card I was given is old and obsolete. However, the customer service folks are unable to give me the lineup for the package I signed up for. They tell me to go to some obscure website to get channel information, but that site also has invalid information about the channel lineup.

What type of company can't even tell me what my channel lineup is? Thank god I didn't sign up for their internet access.

Thanks for commenting.In my area, I was able to find a channel line up guide (via Windows Media Center) that's mostly correct. It doesn't list the two WGNs or the two Univisions, and it lists channel 75 as G4TV rather than HBO2, and ignores the fact that channel 88 no longer seems to exist, but it's still mostly correct.Anyway, thanks again, and I wish you luck.

I'm so glad that I found a blog on which to vent my frustrations. DirecPath absolutely sucks!

I moved into my apartment when it was still run by MediaWorks. They had locked the apartment complex into a contract, which meant that they were the only ones who could provide TV/Internet service to the residents. They robbed residents of competition in the market place, which means that they could charge whatever they wanted, and provide awful service (which they did).

Then MediaWorks was bought out by DirecPath, who was upgrading all of the residents to DirecTV. I had very high hopes for this change in ownership. But, alas, my hopes were missplaced.

After three scheduled technician visits, and several phone calls, my DirecTV Total Choice package is still incorrect. I have no local HD channels, due to an incorrect satellite hookup. When will they fix the problem? Who knows? According to DirectPath, "We are working on it." They say that it could be days or weeks.

Of course, it only took me 3 technician appointments, 5 phone calls to DirecPath, and a total of 3 hours on hold to get this tidbit of information. I am appalled at their incompetence!

DirecPath is the worst! I live in a condo complex where the developer signed an exclusive agreement with MediaWorks thereby forcing Comcast out of the complex. The quality of MediaWorks cable was poor. The picture resolution was horrible and the sound was transmitted in mono. Also, the internet was very slow and I was forced to switched to DSL. When DirecPath took over, the service became worse. They took out many popular channels from basic analog cable such as FX, TBS, Animal Planet, etc. The logic behind this is to force customers to "upgrade" to the more expensive DirecTV packages which requires a box receiver for each TV in the home. We also lose service during a storm. After the storm, the channels that we lost default to a DirecTV information channel that explains how to work the receiver. This does not get fixed for several days!

We also have HD service from DirecPath which is a joke. Everytime there is a storm anywhere in a 50 mile radius, the service on the HD box goes out for several days. DirecPath does not know why but this has been happening for almost a year.

Another sore subject, DirecPath will not let us receive the new channels that DirecTV launched last week. DirecPath sent out a tech who was unaware that DirecTV was launching any new channels! Then he called his manager who said that DirecPath will not offer those channels to their customers.

As a HOA board member, I am trying to find some type of legal action to take against DirecPath for their poor service.

"Good Evening Ladies And Gentel Men,I've just Got Through Reading A DirecPath To Lousy Service, I Agree With you 100% This Server Far Most the Worse Service I've Ever! Had, It's Impossable how Slow The Connection Speed Is I mean Damn..Dial up Is Faster then This Shit,"Delivering High-Quality TV & High-Speed Internet?,They Seriously Need To Dismiss There Assumtions,I Download At 3kb/Sec During The Evening And About 30kb,s/sec During The afternoon i called them reently and asked why is the connection speed so fucking slow they said "well Sir, I do see that the banwith has max out for your area we will be upgradeing as soon as possable (this is what they said Six Months Ago So i waited hopeing there would be a change but sure enough still the same old slow ass download speed i called them last week stateing my internet connection was extreamly slow it went into bytes Per sec O_Oanyway they transferd me to Tech support (what in the fuck can tech Support do?) anyway he said the bantwith was maxed out i said ok what in the fuck dose this have to do with me he said "well sir we will be upgradeing soon" seeing as how i really want a faster connection i waited *sigh* i am still haveing the same 3kb per sec download speed if enough of us come together we can mabey change something about this wanabe At&t damn i miss that company i only had to call them once and it wasn't a problem it was to tell them how wonderful there service is thank you everyone for reading and i advise you never go to DirecPath

"You Know i Agree With Your Statements, I'm a DirectPath Customer I've been So For About One Year. The Service Is ExtremelySlow/Poor I've Never In my Life Seen a Service So Nonchalant, It's as if they don't give a shit about about anything except Obtain there weekly Pay Checks They Give you Subliminal Messages Such As "Delivering High-Quality TV & High-Speed Internet This Is Not High Speed Internet At&t Is High-Speed Internet They Need To Put Low-Speed Poor Shitty Service For everyone it would be the truth we really need to shut them down if we obtain enough people we can do so this is not right peple are giveing there money to something that's not even there sorta speak when you try and Disconnect from them they give you a fee Thanks For reading People

I had the same bad service with the cable tv end of direcpath. I was without service for 10 days, 6 hours on the phone with "customer suppport". I was promised several phone calls back, but not one person called me back. I finally e-mailed psavoldelli@direcpath.com with my issue. He is apparently the CEO. He finally had a "customer service" rep call me back. They offered to credit my bill for the time I was out of service, but would do nothing for the hours I had wasted tyring to fix my cable. At that time I asked to be disconnected. Of course, you even have to wait for a service call to rid yourself of Direcpath. I was then offered a months free service to stay with them. My response was "You couldn't give me a free lifetime of service to say with Direcpath. The apartment manager got no better serivce than I was receiving and agreed to let me put my satellite dish back up.

This company is a scam. No customer service, and they don't even provide the services you pay for. No return phone calls, incompetent techs. All you get on the phone is I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do to fix this for you. I will never give another cent to Direcpath. I'll do without TV first! Come to find out, we were disconnected due to an audit. Wouldn't it make sense to call your customers and let them know whats happened, and fix the problem immediately?

I am so glad I finally found a place to vent about this horrible cable provider. I live in a very nice apartment complex and love it here, but when I moved in a year and a half ago I was informed that the previous management company had signed a long term contract with MediaWorks, so there was no way I could receive Time Warner.

I never had too many problems with MediaWorks, although I was frustrated at losing some of my favorite channels, such as A & E. However, once they made the switch to DirecPath, things only got worse. For about a month I had 3 channels (2 of which I watch regularly) go out completely. Everytime I would call (when they finally took me off hold) they would promise to send a "technician" out to see what was going on. They couldn't seem to understand that this problem was affecting the whole apartment complex. Although I repeatedly told them I had spoken with my neighbors and their channels were out too, they insisted on blaming me and kept asking me stupid, irrelevant questions. I was also given a 8 am-6pm window for the technician to come out (who can afford to stay home all day?!) They seemed to think it necessary to enter my apartment and only check my TV, when it was obviously affecting everyone.

So the first appointment day rolls around and no one shows up. I call again. The channels are still out after 5 days. When I call a third time, I am informed that a technician has already fixed the problem, even though my channels are still out. When I try to schedule another appointment, they say they will not be able to make it out for 3-4 days. Also, since they have made the switch to DirecPath, my internet will sometimes completely stop working (especially in the evening) and even when it does work it is entirely too slow.

On a final note- I just turned to MTV to find that now the sound is completely out, and there is no telling when it will be fixed. Also, someone tell me why I need the HUNTING channel but can't get A & E. I am ready to be rid of this horrible company forever.

I am living in an apartment currently 'serviced' by DirecPath. Actually, I still get MediaQuest programming, since the'upgrade' to DirecPath hasn't taken place.

Essentially, this means I have a Plasma displaying Analog cable. the vomit displayed on my screen perfectly brings to life the level of customer service you get. The "digital" box is a fucking joke. It's one of those '98 Motorola models. No DVR's available. No PPV. No HD. No Sports Pack. It's garbage

I'm not technical enough to know how they rigged this setup, but I know for almost a month, I had a random spattering of channels out (20, 35, 52, 55, etc). It took 5 service calls to rectify.

PS, Tech's don't work on weekends here. Go figure.

I have reserved hope that my upcoming 'upgrade' to Direc's digital package, I will at least have an option of getting a DVR and some HD.

I agree with everything I've read in reference to DirecPath. I, too, live in an apt. complex that has me STUCK with DirecPath. Funny thing is that the customer service sucks so much that everything else (volume variations, bad picture, weather interference, etc,) don't even matter. My husband and i experienced a similar situation of outages, incompetent "service techs" (who knew less than I do about somputers and that's sad), and multiple explosions of my composure (which I've only done one other time with any customer service). I only hope the business falls under some how because the bottom line is: DIRECPATH SUCKS.

Oh my gosh, I'm so glad I found this post. I have been SO frustrated with DirecPath but have no choice. We have our internet with them, and they go out ALL the time. And when we call to complain, they could provide no ETA. This became a problem when I had a home business where the majority of my communication with my clients was via the internet. Also, the weirdest thing happened - somehow our IP address was originating from Spain. This was annoying to us, as pages like the Google homepage defaulted to google.es and you couldn't change it. Sites with multiple languages always defaulted to Spanish. We called to complain after we tried to go to a site that wouldn't let us do what we needed because we "weren't in the United States". My husband, a computer programmer, spent hours on the phone with their crappy customer service trying to explain the situation which they were just clueless about. They treated him like he was a dumb user who knew nothing. Some time after this they switched it and now our IP address looks like it's coming from Canada. Sigh, oh well, at least it's English!

Our internet went out again last night, with no ETA (of course). the other weird thing - we have DirecPath basic cable - and last night we discovered several of the stations are in Spanish. That's a new one! Stations like Cartoon Network, TBS, etc. were dubbed in Spanish (no subtitles). So I don't know what's going on with that, but I will be calling yet again to complain.

Is there anything we can DO about DirecPath besides calling to complain?? It seems like they have no motivation to be better since most of their customers are in an apartment or condo and are locked in to using them.

Hey you're lucky...at least you kind of got internet. I signed up for their shitty TV service and was told that I needed to wait for internet service for a laundry list of bullshit reasons.....come a month later they call me and say "we're sorry but we will not be providing you with internet" and gave me NO REASON other than that....so I said "I want to end my service immediately and I want the $101.90 for my first months bill and set up fee credited BACK into my account!!!" Well that was almost a week ago and still no credit and when I call they say "we're running it past our managers." and "I cannot make the decision to credit you" But yes...because Directpath is the ONLY provider my complex allows...and I'm in for a 12 month lease I am putting in my 30 days and refusing to pay my contract termination fee...they can bring me to court.

Yup! They're the worst. In Lexington, I could get a solid, consistent 10Mbps from Insight for the same price as the barely 1Mbps (which they said was "ONE MEGUHBYTE HURF DURF" when I signed up) from Direcpath. I couldn't even freakin' play WoW. But alas, I didn't have a choice when moving into my new apartment. I was very close to moving just because of that until I decided to move to a DSL and Dish Network bundle. I still miss my 10Mbps, though. :(

OMG! I knew it couldn't be just me. I never wanted Direcpath from the beginning but of course I had no choice since they have a monopoly (which I coulda swore is illegal) over my apt complex. I pay too much for piss poor service! I knew this company was gonna be problems from the first day when I had to give a check to the service tech who installed the cable. I had never heard of handing over a check to a service tech to pay my bill but he insisted that payment is required "up-front." About 3 weeks later I got a bill in the mail for the amount that i had just paid to the service tech guy. I had to call customer service to ask them why they hadn't deposited my check to which they replied " oh, it must have been lost...maybe you chould cancel it and send us another check." HAHAHa I just laughed and told them how stupid they were and that the bank would charge me a $25 fee to cancel my check. To which the man responded "oh ya i didn't think about that." Well a few days later the check magically withdrew from my bank account so I assume they found it. I could go on for hours about the crappy service they give and the fact that I can't get the one channel i really want so I can watch the local baseball team that I have been a die hard fan of since i was 5 years old and now i can't watch them b/c i can only get this crappy direcpath b.s. who doesn't have FSN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ahhh... its really a shame b/c my apt complex is really nice and i love everything about it except direcpath.

My service has been out since 05/02, the first service call they could set up is 05/30. Plus I just received a bill from them, now they expect me to pay for a service I haven't received by that time for a month!. This is the worst company I have ever seen......

If you ever hear the words "DirecPath" run for your life!!! Don't even think of moving to an apartment complex where they're the monopoly. I recently moved to Post Biltmore in Atlanta and DirecPath is the only option for Cable TV service. I have had nothing but hard times dealing with them. Now I'm having a billing issue with them where I need to speak with a supervisor but I've been told by two separate "customer service" reps (who by the way speak horrible English) that I'm not allowed to speak with a supervisor. I was told "it's against their policy their policy to forward a call to a supervisor." What?!!! I've never heard of this. This is further proof that this company is a complete JOKE of a business -- run from them as fast as you can!

I wish I had found this before I moved into my apartment. I have been dealing with direcpath for 2 years and it is awful. I am trying to cancel my service now and they can't even manage to do that right. They came in in the middle of my lease and changed our programing to directtv and now they are tryinng to charge me bc my lease is up. they are idiots. I already had to cancel my internet with them because I went without service for a week for an outage on the property. There were not storms or anything to cause it. This is bullshit... i wish I could put them out of business so no one else had to go through what I have with them...

We live in an apartment complex in Memphis. God it is unbearable. The TV fades in and out during sunlight peaks and storms- the internet is capped at 100mbps, and I cannot even download faster than it. They say they run off a comcast line provided to them, yet comcast isn't allowed near here. I'm thinking of walking 300 feet down the road, building a tent, and ordering cable. This is horrible. Can't we all just file a class-action law suit?

Please save me from DirecPath. Six more months to go in my lease before I can get out of this racketeering. I even looked for an out on my lease agreement just because of DirecPath. It's robbery and unbearable.

Yeah, I'll just pile on here with everyone else. Back when it was MediaWorks, at least when we'd lose a channel or two, or three, we could call them and a tech would head over to the shack and fix whatever the problem was within 24 hours or so. Since it was taken over by DirecPath it's been a real pain in the butt. We don't have their over-priced "digital" package and are just using the normal, analog one, mostly because the digital package just doesn't have anything on it we'd watch. I say mostly because we did inquire about it hoping that might solve the problem with the dropping channels but we were told that they didn't have any available boxes for the digital cable and they'd let us know just as soon as they had some. Good thing I didn't hold my breath.What I find most annoying about their customer service now is their script. Any problem, such as a missing channel, results in them checking some mystery list to see if there are any "issues" in our complex, then they try and say it's our fault, then they try to send a tech to my apartment. Now, I'm not a fool here, I can tell when the problem is theirs and ours. When every TV in my apartment displays an error message like, "channel x needs authorization key" well ya know that's something they they have to mess with in the shack.I'm STILL pissed that we've lost G4Tech because they're too damn lazy to remap the channel back where it was. Yeah, I know Dish or Direct TV moved G4. But hey, the same magic that let them put it on channel 55 of the analog system still works now that G4 is somewhere else. They just have to go in there and fix it, which they won't.The REALLY frustrating part is that we're stuck with them. While our apartment complex does allow mini-dishes, our apartment in particular is on the wrong side of the building meaning we can't get a line-of-sight to the Direct TV satellite. You know, I never thought I'd miss Time Warner or Comcast but right now I'd sure love to have THEIR service.

I am very upset with my DirecPath service. When ever I loose access to the internet and I call DirecPath to tell them of the service outage I am informed that they have just looked and I do in fact have service. You can’t even help them because they are programmed to not listen. On another occasion of service outage I was informed that even if I have no service they don’t investigate until they get more than three complaints.

My current problem is that I have not received a bill for the last two months. When I ask for help I am informed that it must be the post office because the billing process is automated and it couldn’t possibly be DirecPath. I complained to the Better Business Bureau and did get a call from DirecPath. Of course the lady talking to me, repeated the ‘it must be the post office because the billing process is automated and it couldn’t possibly be DirecPath’. She also refused to connect me with her supervisor, accounting or any manager. This month I did receive an electronic bill ( which I didn’t ask for ). I went on line to configure the system to send a paper bill and it did not work. Of course DirecPath says I requested the electronic bill and if I want a paper bill I’ll have to go online and change the settings. I told them that I tried to do this and the software failed and that this was the reason for the call. Of course, I got no help.

I used Adelphia and Comcast and they had bad service. But they look good compared to DirecPath which has NO service.

They are just the worst comapny I have dealt with in my whole life so far. Their service hours are only form Monday to Friday 8 am to 5 pm. Great customer service hours. They always say taht I can sign a key release.

A tech just came out today and fix my Internet. I had to wait 4 days for the appointment today. And my INternet stops working this evening again. I am currently on hold for a customer service rep for the second time. The first time I called I waited 20 minutes. Then the call was disconnected after the rep asked me for the phone number, full name and full address. I called back and I guess have to wait for another 20 minutes again. Do not use them if I were you. But I have no choice as I live in a property that only has them as Internet service provider. I don't know how such a company can stay in business for long! Thank you for listening. I had to vent this one out!

Cancel while you can. I've been getting billed for 4 months since canceling service. I've now received a collection notice for not paying their incorrect bills. All while telling me on the phone that it was being taken care of.

You will never know how pleased I am to read that I'm not the only one having the misfortune of dealing with DirecPath. It is unclear as to what crap they feed to management at the various apartment and condo sites but it is apparent that they all take hits from the same bong that leads them to signing contracts with this ridiculous company. For approximately, 3-4 months I have had problems with my service. And just like all of you that have responded to this post, I too am still without the service I'm being billed for monthly. Isn't there any sort of action that can be taken against this pitiful excuse of a company? Their remedy for my problem was to swap out my current DVR receiver with a standard one and move the DVR to the front of the apartment. WTF!!!! This piss poor service worked fine for a approx. a year and a half and it has been downhill ever since. After one thunderstorm, out of the many we experience in the South, the service stops working properly and no one can explain it or fix it. THEY ABSOLUTELY SUCK!!!!!

Well to make a long story short - same problem as everyone else - when I call the NOC center - I get the Philippino Supervisor who can't do a dammed thing but apologize - they have tech's come in DAILY to this apt complex and yet they can't get one of them to take a 5 minute break to deliver me a new MODEM?.. Come on!@.. get real?..this is the 3rd Modem - and I actually think that the programming in their Sat link is all screwed up - someone needs to rewrite their programs sent to the Sat to downlink to clients - I am now changing to CLEAR - Wireless at 6Meg Downloads and 1Meg Uploads - and all WIRELESS? How can this be? I am switching - have had enough of being on hold for 40-50 minutes and told "were working on it but till 3-4 days down the line!:" I have had it!.. Enough is enough!..

Gosh! I am sorry you had that experience. I had Comcast for 7 years and had a few bad experiences but the problem I had is when there was an issue, they made me feel like they didnt care. I've had DIRECPATH for 4 years and I can count on my hands how many times there has been an issue. They have bent over backwards in the way a huge company like comcast wouldnt. The tech once waited for me for 45 min. Reps from corporate have personally called me to issue me credits (try to get someone from comcast corp to call you,.. lol, you would literally stop breathing before it happened! That was it, again, sorry you had those issues.

I'm glad I'm not the only one! I live in an apartment complex managed by Aimco, who incidentally has an exclusive contract with Direcpath to service all of their developments nation wide.

We lived here for about 10 years now, and suffered through the horrible cable service Mediaworks offered for our first two. On our third year, we were given permission to install our own satellite dish by the property manager, and enjoyed Dish Network and then Direct TV for a good eight years. Of course until about a month ago when the new property manager (the 12th "new" manager since we moved here!) started sending out letters threatening to evict anyone found having their own satellite dish installed. Interestingly enough, the manager's actions seem to go almost hand in hand with DirecPath's "Dish Removal Campaign" (http://www.direcpath.com/partner-with-us/our-advantage/dish-removal). So, in short we were forced to move our service over to DirecPath, else risk getting thrown out on the street.

After switching over, we were cautiously optimistic and even decided to try out their cable modem internet service. So far its been only a month, and needless to say, we are less then happy! Not only does their internet service continually "blip" out at random periods throughout the day and night, their satellite signal just downright tends to go bonkers! We have three DVRs in our home, and whenever we change the station on one, the other two will fade into that station for a few minutes - without even changing the channel, and then fade back in.

Needless to say, among the many other issues we have with this development and the way that its managed - this is indeed the icing on the cake. I do hope that Aimco realizes that due to its partnership with DirecPath and the downright barbarian strong-arm tactics they're using to force their tenants into using DirecPath's service, they risk loosing quite a few of their current renters. Myself included.

I had never heard of this sorry reseller of internet and Direct Tv services until I moved 2 months ago this property and might I say highend Luxary apartment fancy way of saying we are going to charge you more and make the decisions for you. Since I have had DirecPath my service has been down more than up. And today they told me to come out and fix the problem they need a 55.oo deposit so let me get this straight my service doesn't work and it is their problem by they way it was the entire property and they want to charge me to fix this. Not only is the service shitty but this is 2011 and I live in a property that is over 1100.00 a month rent and DirecPath can't provide HD tv REALLY I can live in the hood and get HD tv... They are a real joke, I am going to sign my intent to move as soon as my lease is up document tomorrow please believe I will not sign another lease where they are the service or should I say non service provider because I have figured out they only provide a monthly bill and nothing else......

Direcpath is a company that is hopeless. Their CEO and the rest of the management team is completely lost. When the people at the top are lost, and don't care about anything you can pretty much assure that attitude trickles all the way down to you.

When you hear the name DirecPath - don't walk... RUN in the opposite direction.

The worst of the worst. Its just a matter of time before they go belly up.

So glad I found this! I have to vent as well. They are the worst company ever! I didn't realize that my apt complex has a deal with them and no one else. They didn't tell me that until I tried to get another provider. Im forced to pay for what can only be described as the worst internet connection ever. Heck I think dial up is faster. I recently did a speed test and got a .02mbps download speed. On a whim I tested the download speed of my 3g phone. You guessed it, my phone performed head and shoulders over DirecPath clocking in at 1.9mpbs! Does anyone know if the company gives kickbacks to these rental properties for every person they scam, i mean get to buy the service?